the accused ft. hood attacker, u.s. major anadal hasan and three 9/11 hijackers and faisal shahzad. the death of awlaki is a major blow to al qaeda s most active operational affiliate. awlaki was the leader of external operations for al qaeda in the arabian peninsula. in that role he took the lead in planning and directing efforts to murder innocent americans. reporter: for more on awlaki, the al qaeda off shoot he represented and where we go from here, i want to bring in cnn s international correspondent nic robertson. nic, this was a huge development. why was awlaki such a threat and a priority for the snus. he was an intellectual. he was smart. he was well educated. he knew how to sort of manipulate his audience and the one thing that he had that al qaeda really wanted was a way to communicate the potential recruits in the west. he spoke english and he spoke it with a charisma and a meaning that drew in radicals or potential radicals towards al qaeda. and really that